Alex, who used to work in the motor trade, and his friend Pete have raised £626 for Phyllis Tuckwell through soapbox car racing. Known under their team name of 'Better Late than Never’, the pair have taken part in four races this year, in three different counties, and have achieved their aim of finishing in the top ten in all of them.
“It all started in 2019,” said Alex. “That was when we took part in the soapbox race in Farnham. Then, in the early part of 2023, there was an announcement on Facebook saying that there was going to be a race in Bordon. I was straight on there, booking a place, because we'd had so much fun doing the Farnham one. So we did Bordon in 2023 and we had a great time; it was such a good event. After that, I started looking around to see if there were any more races we could take part in. I had no idea how many of these go on! There's probably 40-45 a year, all over the country. I looked at which ones were within 70-80 miles of us, and in 2024 we did the race in Westbury, in Wiltshire. It's where the White Horse is, on the side of the hill. The race is down that hill - it's the steepest soapbox race in the country. Then we did Cookham Dean, in Maidenhead, and then this year we just carried on.”
Alex and Pete signed up to take part in the soapbox race in Burghfield, Berkshire, and that was when they started fundraising for Phyllis Tuckwell.
“The Burghfield race raises money for charity,” said Alex, “so when we signed up, that's when we started talking about supporting Phyllis Tuckwell. We're both local. We go to the Phyllis Tuckwell shop every week - my wife is always in there! You get some good bargains there, and it's nice to donate stuff as well. It's a charity that’s close to our hearts.”
“My brother and my sister-in-law were both in the Hospice,” said Pete. “I spent a lot of time there and I thought the care they got was second to none. When they looked after my brother, they were just unbelievable. That was back in 2014. It was a long time ago, but I still think about it. Then not long after that my sister-in-law was in the Hospice, and she spent her last days there. My sisters do a lot of fundraising for Phyllis Tuckwell. They've done skydives and abseiled down the side of the Spinnaker Tower. So when Alex suggested the soapbox racing to me, I thought it was a good idea.”
“We’ve done four races this year, all raising money for Phyllis Tuckwell,” said Alex, “and we set ourselves a target to come in the top ten of all the events. That's easier said than done. At some you've got a fairly good chance of that, but at others there are nearly 50 soapbox cars there. Westbury was our first race. We had two good runs and then crashed on our third, but we still managed to finish 7th. Then Burghfield, that was probably one of the best events we've done. We finished 4th and were awarded Best Engineered Kart. Then we did the race in Bordon, where we finished 4th out of 46 karts! And finally Cookham Dean, where we finished 10th. We had great fun. I love building the soapbox. For me, that's the main part, and then just to have some fun on the race days.”
Alex and Pete were supported by our community fundraisers, who supplied them with materials to promote their fundraising and raise awareness of Phyllis Tuckwell. We're always immensely grateful to all our supporters, who raise vital funds to help us provide our care. Every day, we support over 250 patients, relatives and carers, through medical and nursing care, therapies, counselling, social work advice and practical support. However, as the NHS/Government only cover around 25% of our costs, we have to raise over £25,000 every single day to be able to offer all these services, and our local community is so important in helping us do this.
“The Fundraising team has been brilliant,” said Alex. “They've emailed me before every event, and afterwards too. They've been absolutely superb. It's been nice to give them feedback from the races. They did us some flyers too, and some banners. We put a banner on the back of the soapbox. We've got Phyllis Tuckwell t-shirts too, which we always wear at the races, to promote it.”
“We know how much it costs Phyllis Tuckwell to run their services, and every penny helps,” said Pete. “You've got to have that, because it's all money, money, money, all the time, just to run the charity. It's very important.”
“So many people know Phyllis Tuckwell,” said Alex. “We were at Burghfield and a guy there saw our t-shirts. He was from Farnham, and he came over and donated £20. That was quite nice really, to have people come out of the blue like that.”
“I think a lot of people have been touched by Phyllis Tuckwell,” said Pete. “Most people have had family members there, and I think word just spreads, because of the care they give.”
“It's the help they give the community,” said Alex. “It's quite amazing, really.”
